Articles | Volume 17, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12725-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12725-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 Oct 2017
Research article |
| 26 Oct 2017
Impacts of solar-absorbing aerosol layers on the transition of stratocumulus to trade cumulus clouds
Xiaoli Zhou
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Andrew S. Ackerman
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, New York, USA
Ann M. Fridlind
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, New York, USA
Robert Wood
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Pavlos Kollias
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
Department of Environmental and Climate Sciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, USA
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33 citations as recorded by crossref.
- The diurnal cycle of the smoky marine boundary layer observed during August in the remote southeast Atlantic J. Zhang & P. Zuidema https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14493-2019
- Impact of smoke and non-smoke aerosols on radiation and low-level clouds over the southeast Atlantic from co-located satellite observations A. Baró Pérez et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6053-2021
- A stratocumulus to cumulus transition during a cold-air outbreak: The role of aerosols E. Bossioli et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108211
- Sunlight-absorbing aerosol amplifies the seasonal cycle in low-cloud fraction over the southeast Atlantic J. Zhang & P. Zuidema https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11179-2021
- Causes of Dimming and Brightening in China Inferred from Homogenized Daily Clear-Sky and All-Sky in situ Surface Solar Radiation Records (1958–2016) S. Yang et al. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0666.1
- Cloud adjustments from large-scale smoke–circulation interactions strongly modulate the southeastern Atlantic stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition M. Diamond et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022
- Different Impacts of Aerosols on Cloud Development over Land and Ocean Regions in East China X. Zhao et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-024-4165-z
- Time-dependent entrainment of smoke presents an observational challenge for assessing aerosol–cloud interactions over the southeast Atlantic Ocean M. Diamond et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018
- Biomass-burning smoke's properties and its interactions with marine stratocumulus clouds in WRF-CAM5 and southeastern Atlantic field campaigns C. Howes et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023
- Effects of intermittent aerosol forcing on the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition P. Prabhakaran et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1919-2024
- Dust and smoke layers over the Atlantic Ocean weaken the underlying low-level cloud-top radiative cooling through different pathways S. Pandey & A. Adebiyi https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03183-x
- Two decades observing smoke above clouds in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean: Deep Blue algorithm updates and validation with ORACLES field campaign data A. Sayer et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3595-2019
- Aerosol absorption over the Aegean Sea under northern summer winds G. Methymaki et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117533
- Diurnal cycle of the semi-direct effect from a persistent absorbing aerosol layer over marine stratocumulus in large-eddy simulations R. Herbert et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1317-2020
- Aerosol–cloud interactions in marine low-clouds in a warmer climate P. Prabhakaran et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5151-2026
- Impact on the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition of the interaction of cloud microphysics and macrophysics with large-scale circulation J. Chun et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5251-2025
- Dust Aerosol Impacts on the Time of Cloud Formation in the Badain Jaran Desert Area X. Zhao et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD037019
- Aerosol first indirect effect of African smoke at the cloud base of marine cumulus clouds over Ascension Island, southern Atlantic Ocean M. de Graaf et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5373-2023
- Method to retrieve cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations using lidar measurements W. Tan et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3825-2019
- Comparing the simulated influence of biomass burning plumes on low-level clouds over the southeastern Atlantic under varying smoke conditions A. Baró Pérez et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024
- Impact of the variability in vertical separation between biomass burning aerosols and marine stratocumulus on cloud microphysical properties over the Southeast Atlantic S. Gupta et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021
- Mind the gap – Part 2: Improving quantitative estimates of cloud and rain water path in oceanic warm rain using spaceborne radars A. Battaglia et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4865-2020
- Cloud adjustments dominate the overall negative aerosol radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols in UKESM1 climate model simulations over the south-eastern Atlantic H. Che et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17-2021
- Realism of Lagrangian Large Eddy Simulations Driven by Reanalysis Meteorology: Tracking a Pocket of Open Cells Under a Biomass Burning Aerosol Layer J. Kazil et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002664
- Absorption closure in highly aged biomass burning smoke J. Taylor et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11201-2020
- Biomass burning aerosol as a modulator of the droplet number in the southeast Atlantic region M. Kacarab et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3029-2020
- Strong control of the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition time by aerosol: analysis of the joint roles of several cloud-controlling factors using Gaussian process emulation R. Sansom et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1713-2026
- Large simulated radiative effects of smoke in the south-east Atlantic H. Gordon et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15261-2018
- The warming effect of black carbon must be reassessed in light of observational constraints G. Myhre et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsus.2025.100428
- Ultra-clean and smoky marine boundary layers frequently occur in the same season over the southeast Atlantic S. Pennypacker et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020
- The Ascension Island Boundary Layer in the Remote Southeast Atlantic is Often Smoky P. Zuidema et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076926
- Impacts of aerosols produced by biomass burning on the stratocumulus‐to‐cumulus transition in the equatorial Atlantic O. Ajoku et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.1025
- Low Cloud Cover Sensitivity to Biomass-Burning Aerosols and Meteorology over the Southeast Atlantic A. Adebiyi & P. Zuidema https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0406.1
Saved (final revised paper)
Latest update: 23 Jun 2026
Short summary
Shallow maritime clouds make a well-known transition from stratocumulus to trade cumulus with flow from the subtropics equatorward. Three-day large-eddy simulations that investigate the potential influence of overlying African biomass burning plumes during that transition indicate that cloud-related impacts are likely substantially cooling to negligible at the top of the atmosphere, with magnitude sensitive to background and perturbation aerosol and cloud properties.
Shallow maritime clouds make a well-known transition from stratocumulus to trade cumulus with...
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